Scott T. Filmore

Scott's practice is concentrated in estate planning, trust and estate administration, and trust and estate-related litigation. In particular, Scott has extensive experience in the following areas:

• Drafting sophisticated estate planning instruments, including wills, revocable trust instruments, several different types of irrevocable trust instruments, prenuptial agreements and durable powers of attorney, along with the tax planning and asset transfers that are related to the preparation of these instruments.
• Representing both individuals and corporate fiduciaries in litigation matters involving trusts and estates under both federal and state law.
• Preparing fiduciary, estate and gift tax returns and defending clients in IRS audits.
• The administration of decedents' estates and post-mortem trusts, including the funding of trusts in a manner that will minimize estate, generation-skipping transfer and income taxes.  

Representative Experience

Scott has represented clients in the following noteworthy matters:

• Advising clients who sought to terminate a family trust to avoid generation-skipping transfer tax while such tax was suspended during 2010, including the drafting of a covered opinion in accordance with the requirements of IRS Circular 230.
• The administration of a $250 million decedent’s estate that required extensive analysis of the estate’s liquidity issues as well as the planning and carrying out of an over $10 million qualified disclaimer.
• Representation of an ultra-affluent family in continuous trust and estate matters, including drafting of sophisticated estate planning instruments and transfers between family-controlled entities.
• The preparation of the estate tax return and accompanying exhibits for a $200 million estate involving interests in a family partnership, numerous trusts, a private foundation, more than $3 million in deductions for administration expenses and debts, and the exercise of a power of appointment over $45 million in trust assets followed by a successful defense of the return against an IRS examination.
• Advising a client regarding the structure of and forecasting the tax consequences and ultimate wealth transfer resulting from, a charitable lead annuity trust funded with a life insurance policy, as well as the drafting of the governing instrument for such trust.
• Drafting numerous documents in accordance with a plan to transfer assets from a client's underperforming grantor-retained annuity trusts and selling such assets to the client's family trust in exchange for a promissory note, including the drafting of formula provisions to protect against revaluation of the assets by the IRS.
  

Education

New York University, LL.M. in Taxation, 2002

University of Kansas, J.D., 2001
   Articles Editor, Kansas Law Review, 2000-2001

University of Kansas, B.S., Business Administration, 1998

Community Involvement

Bar Admissions

Professional Affiliations

Articles

Presentations

Recognitions

• Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating